Freedom of Expression in the People s Republic of China

Freedom of Expression in the People s Republic of China Reshma Rajagopalan Chair of Human Rights II

Topic Summary The right to freedom of expression is recognized internationally under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR): Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any type of media, regardless of frontiers.

Topic Summary Article 35 of the Constitution of the People s Republic of China claims that citizens enjoy the freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, procession and demonstration The Chinese government still censors freedom of expression in mainland China, thus violating human rights

Terms Defined Freedom of Expression the right to express one's ideas and opinions freely through speech, writing, and other forms of communication, without deliberately causing harm to others through false or misleading statements. Freedom of Expression includes: Freedom of Religion Freedom of Media/Press Freedom of Speech Internet Censorship

Terms Defined Communist Party of China (CPC) the founding and ruling party in China, led by current party leader, General Secretary of the People s Republic of China, Hu Jintao Democratic Party of China (DPC) a party banned by the CPC that was originally assembled by democracy activists and previous student leaders from the Tiananmen Square Protests Universal Periodic Review (UPR) a process which reviews human rights records of all UN member states every four years

Terms Defined The Great Firewall of China nickname for the Golden Shield Project, a censorship & surveillance project that blocks internet content through the use of of firewalls, URLs, DNS, and keyword filtering

Timeline 1920 CPC, China s ruling party, is founded 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is established by the UN 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), part of the International Bill of Human Rights, is adopted by the General Assembly and signed but not ratified by China 1994 Internet becomes available in China as a result of economic reform

Timeline 1998 DCP is assembled and then quickly banned 2005 Chinese journalist Shi Tao is sentenced to 10 years in prison for reaching out to a pro-democracy group 2006 UPR created in General Assembly resolution 60/251 2009 Chinese government rejects all 70 recommendations from UN member states from the UPR review process, including those regarding freedom of expression

Countries Most Connected & Why People s Republic of China China s human rights records have a long history of being poor The government largely controls the media and heavily censors the internet through the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China Freedom of speech is limited and those who criticize the government or advocate freedom of expression are often punished The country acknowledges freedom of speech as a right in theory, but it does not do so in practice United States of America The US is a strong advocate for both democracy and freedom of expression It recognizes China s continuously poor record of human rights Recent risk of rights being eroded due to war on terror

What Has Been Done by the UN? International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights a multilateral treaty monitored by the Human Rights Committee that commits parties to respect civil and political rights including freedom of speech and religion

What Has Been Done by the UN? In 2009, China was the first permanent member of the Security Council to undergo the Universal Periodic Review Unfortunately, China rejected the outcomes and failed to "uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights" or "fully cooperate with the Council

Current Situation in China Almost all forms of media are controlled by the state or strictly supervised and censored Editors and journalists must attend ideology reinforcement conferences All media is required to comply with "propaganda circulars" issued by the Central Propaganda Department of the CPC The Chinese government bans religions that are not registered

Useful Links http://www.democracyweb.org/expression/china.php http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/freedom-of-expression/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/great_firewall_of_china http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/human_rights_in_the_people's_re public_of_china#freedom_of_speech_.28a_chinese_myth.2 9

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